Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The following is a roundup of soccer
stories from U.K. newspapers, with clickable links to the Web.

Hodgson Safe

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has been told his position is
secure by the club’s prospective new owners and will be given
the chance to lead the team’s recovery, the Guardian reported.

Chairman Martin Broughton said John W. Henry’s New England
Sports Ventures, which agreed to buy Liverpool for about 300
million pounds ($476 million) yesterday, has no desire to change
the manager even though Hodgson has overseen Liverpool’s worst
start for 57 years, the newspaper added.

“There is a commitment to the manager,” the Guardian
cited Broughton as saying. “They are very happy that this
manager is the right person to take this club forward.”

Goal-line Technology

Soccer world governing body FIFA will approve the
introduction of goal-line technology this week, the Sun reported.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter will head a two-day summit in
Zurich beginning today to discuss the best system to introduce,
the newspaper added. As many as 16 different ideas will be put
forward at a meeting of the International Football Association
Board, soccer’s rulemaking body, on Oct. 20, the Sun said.

Benayoun Blow

English Premier League leader Chelsea may be without Yossi
Benayoun for several months after the Israel Football
Association said the midfielder has a ruptured Achilles tendon,
the Independent reported.

Benayoun, who joined his national squad this week for Euro
2012 qualifying matches, had a scan two days ago that revealed
the injury, the newspaper added. Chelsea said on its website it
will assess the player when he returns to the London club’s
training ground at the weekend.

United Lacking

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson criticized his team
for lacking a killer instinct after drawing four of its seven
Premier League games, the Sun reported.

“This present team does not kill off sides as well as they
should,” the Sun cited Ferguson, whose team trails leader
Chelsea by five points, as saying. “That’s the one area where I
would like to see an improvement.”

Rooney Slide

The Manchester United striker slid to 89th from 65th in the
overall list and three places to sixth in the player rankings,
the newspaper said. David Beckham remains atop the players’ list
even after his estimated wealth dropped by a fifth to 100
million pounds, the Guardian added.

Manchester City’s Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan tops
the list as the richest club owner with a fortune of 20 billion
pounds, while England manager Fabio Capello is valued as the
richest manager on 36 million pounds, the newspaper added.